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by , , , , and - This technical note describes the data sources and methodology underpinning a computer system for the automated generation of land use/land cover maps of urban areas.
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by Mikaela Weisse and Elizabeth Dow Goldman - June 02, 2020The 2019 data reveals that several countries suffered record tree cover losses, and fires created astonishing impacts in primary forests and beyond.
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by Tina Huang - May 19, 2020Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, locust swarms across the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula may exacerbate food insecurity and hunger.
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by Cristina Logg, Julian Kölbel, Colin Strong, Paul Reig and Ross Hamilton - April 2020This Technical Note documents a pilot project to better understand public water management by crowdsourcing responses to a standardized question set. Using the results of the pilot and additional stakeholder interviews, the authors have developed an updated question set to assess conditions of public water management for industrial water users.
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by Luiz Amaral and Jane Lloyd - June 10, 2019More than 360 companies committed to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2020. Most are not on track to meet this target, but Global Forest Watch Pro can help.
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by Mikaela Weisse and Elizabeth Dow Goldman - April 25, 2019Primary or old-growth rainforests store more carbon than other kinds of forests and provide homes for jaguars, orangutans, gorillas and other important species. So the fact that the world lost 3.6 million hectares of these forests in 2018 is a huge problem.
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by Jiao Wang - April 26, 2018While more than one-third of China still suffers from high water stress, there are signs of improvement: New WRI analysis shows that the rate of increase in the country's water withdrawals has slowed from 5.1 billion cubic meters per year in 2001-2010 to 1.6 billion cubic meters per year from 2010-2015.
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by Charles Iceland, Tianyi Luo and Gennadii Donchyts - April 11, 2018Cape Town, South Africa has been in the news for its impending "Day Zero," when the city will shut off taps and start rationing water, but its reservoirs aren't the only ones shrinking. Satellite images reveal dwindling water supplies in Morocco, India, Iraq and Spain.
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WRI and the National Geographic Society host the event "Open Data in a Closing World" to shed light on how current trends in data, technology, media and human networks can inform decision-making around natural resources.
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by Colin Strong, Paul Reig, Julian Köbel and Cindy Noe - March 2018This methodology documents an approach to crowdsourcing information on public water management via companies, in order to create a global database of local data.
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by Betsy Otto and Leah Schleifer - February 15, 2018Cape Town, South Africa is poised to shut off water taps for homes and businesses in the next few months. Is the next "Day Zero" coming to a city near you?
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by Stefanie Tye, Emily Nilson and Lauretta Burke - February 07, 2018From crop fields in the Iberian Peninsula to city streets in the southern United States, all communities will feel the effects of a warmer world. Here's a visual look at what the future holds for five regions.
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by Frances Seymour and Tjokorda Nirarta "Koni" Samadhi - January 29, 2018Indonesia’s Geospatial Information Agency will announce results this week of a competition for mapping the nation’s peat. The winning team will receive $1 million. The world will receive the information it needs to start protecting these carbon-rich wetlands.
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by Tianyi Luo - January 16, 2018Fourteen of India’s 20 largest thermal utilities experienced at least one shutdown due to water shortages between 2013-2016, at a cost of $1.4 billion. It's a taste of what's to come in a warmer, more crowded world.
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by Leah Schleifer and Tianyi Luo - January 04, 2018Power plants use a lot of water for cooling, but most don't disclose how much. A new WRI methodology calculates their thirst by using Google Earth images.
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by Katie Reytar and Peter Veit - December 20, 2017New data on the LandMark platform backs up what research already shows: Indigenous Peoples and local communities are some of the best environmental stewards.
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by Mikaela Weisse and Katie Lyons - December 13, 2017Deforestation from road building or expanding plantations isn’t typically spotted until a sizable patch of land disappears. But now satellites are watching.
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by Hidayah Hamzah, Rizky Firmansyah, Arief Wijaya and Surahman Putra - December 05, 2017Countries considering open data policies have to guard against falsification and misuse, but there are clear ways to avoid these problems.
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by Fred Stolle and John-Rob Pool - May 19, 2017Thanks to high-resolution satellite images, researchers discovered the equivalent of another Amazon rainforest in the world's deserts and drylands.
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by Charles Iceland and Betsy Otto - February 27, 2017Water security drives state stability and safety in many regions of the world. The direct and indirect effects of water stress—such as migration, food shortages and general destabilization—transcend national boundaries.